Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

212 Fitness: Exercise and Health
employees. Health agencies such as the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and health organizations
such as the American Heart Association
(AHA) and the American Diabetes Association
(ADA) espoused exercise and fitness as preventive
measures as well as adjuncts for clinical treatment
regimens. In 1990 and in 2000 the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the US
government’s health promotion and prevention
agendas for Americans, the Healthy People 2000
and HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010 initiatives, incorporated
daily physical activity for youth and adults among
their priority areas with the overriding objective of
preventing health conditions and reducing overall
premature deaths that result from physical inactivity.
KEY HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GOALS
• Reduce the proportion of adults who engage in
no leisure-time physical activity.
• Increase the proportion of adolescents and
adults who engage regularly, preferably daily,
in moderate physical activity for at least 30
minutes per day.
• Increase the proportion of adolescents and
adults who engage in vigorous physical activity
that promotes the development and maintenance
of cardiorespiratory fitness three or
more days per week for 20 or more minutes
per occasion.
• Increase the proportion of adults who perform
physical activities that enhance and maintain
muscular STRENGTH and ENDURANCE.
• Increase the proportion of adults who perform
physical activities that enhance and maintain
FLEXIBILITY.
• Increase the proportion of US public and private
schools that require daily physical education
for all students.
• Increase the proportion of work sites offering
employer-sponsored physical activity and fitness
programs.
• Increase among children, adolescents, and
adults the proportion of trips made by walking.
• Increase among children, adolescents, and
adults the proportion of trips made by bicycling.